The profession is less perilous than it was, thanks to advances in medicine. The invention of penicillin helped, and today at big bullrings specialist surgeons are on standby to operate. The last Spanish matador to die was Jose Cubero Sanchez "El Yiyo" in 1985. Alexander Fiske-Harrison, author of Into The Arena: The World of the Spanish Bullfight, cites records showing that 533 professional bullfighters have been killed in Spain since 1700. However the records may be incomplete, he says, as bullfighting has only been regulated for 100 years.

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